23 April 2023 Social Media

How do you use social media?

Hello to you. How are you today? I’m doing ok – just back from church, eating part of my traditional Subway sandwich and walk with Link. It was starting to sprinkle while we were out.

Todays prompt is a good one. I use a lot of social media platforms to connect with the world. Some of the ones I use are WordPress, Facebook, Twitch, Tik Tok, Discord, Messenger and Clapper for examples. Using these helps me not feel so lonely but they can’t take the place of real life connections with people. That’s why going for walks and seeing some of my neighbors and going to church are so important. Today I got to hug one of my friends I made through church and see her beautiful baby girl!

I am grateful to have family living nearby and I cherish the time we get to spend together. All of those real life moments are so important. I love it when my Aunt and or Uncle or cousins will ask if I want to get out of the house and they come over and we go for coffee, breakfast, lunch or ice cream. Sometimes my Aunt invites me over for a meal and we watch a show together. All the social media I mentioned and those I didn’t can’t take the place of making memories with loved ones. Fellowship with those we care about and love is powerful:

Acts 2:42-47New International Version

The Fellowship of the Believers

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their numbers daily those who were being saved.

Picture I took when my Aunt and Uncle came and got me out of Orofino, the hospital, last November. My Aunt and Uncle are more than just family – they are earth angels – they are dear friends that don’t hesitate to help me when I ask (and when I don’t.) They passed this on to my cousins who are much the same. I’m so grateful.

20 April 2023 MRI Results

Hello to you. Hope this finds you well. Yesterday my Auntie and I went and had my MRI. I’m so grateful she was able to go with me! They called me today about the results and the doctor had no further concerns. I have a follow up in June to discuss the results. I think my suspicion of my having Mal de barque syndrome is correct. We have checked the ears and the brain and nothing has shown up. So whatever is going on will either eventually go away or I will just have to live with it indefinitely. I will stay in gratitude that nothing bad has come up with all the tests.

This morning at 9:30 am was another prayer team session at Grace House. There were a couple of us to include Pastor Jason. We had about two pages of prayer praises and prayer requests. Some things didn’t make it to the printed list but passed our lips and hearts. There is a lot going on in our little church and the crazy world it’s trying to operate in!

My dear Link helps me each day

Romans 12:5New International Version

5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body,and each member belongs to all the others.

Proverbs 19:21New International Version

21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

15 April 2023 Happiness

What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?

Hello to you. How are you? I hope your doing ok. The world is kind of crazy! Todays prompt is a good one. When the world around you is seeming kind of chaotic a good way to get grounded is to focus thoughts on what’s good in your life – gratitude. Something I’ve done ever since I was in rehab many years ago was a mental gratitude list. Rather than sit and complain pull out your gratitude list. What’s fun about doing it is how quickly you go from just one thing your grateful for to a whole bunch of things.

I have many things that make me happy and that I’m grateful for. At the top of my list is family and friends. My family and friends have gotten me to this day! True examples of unconditional love. Next is of course Link. I love waking up to his sweet smile and wagging tail. Number three is good food – I enjoy food too much lol! Number four is my connection to God – having a church home has really been helpful to keeping that connection strong. Number five is nature – seeing nature wake up this spring just really makes me happy! The best florist in the world is momma nature!

My Uncle Bill shared a couple pictures this morning of a beautiful California poppy bloom. The rains made it happen! Something good out of something that has caused a lot of people trouble:

Poppy bloom picture from my Uncle Bill- what a beautiful sight. I can remember last year asking God about orange flowers and the first ones he showed me were these types of flowers growing here!

13 April 2023 Prayer Meeting

Hello to you. Hope this finds you well! This morning I decided to join others from church for a prayer meeting. They had only expected four people and my going made five! One of the things we prayed for I’ve had on my heart for quite some time and that’s a permanent home for our church. As it stands right now, each Saturday volunteers have to set up for Sunday at a school gym here in town. After service they have to pack everything up. It’s very labor intensive. God will make a way for us I hope.

One of the unspoken obstacles we are facing as a Christian church is we are trying to operate in a predominately Mormon town. Everything will work out I hope!

Matthew 6:5-15

Prayer

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.And when you pray, do not keep on babblinglike pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you needbefore you ask him.

“This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.[b]14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

8 April 2023 Red Ribbons

The sins of the congregation nailed to the cross to symbolize Christs sacrifice

Hello to you, how are you? I’m doing pretty good. Last night I went to our church’s Good Friday service and I’m glad I did. It was a somber service as can be expected. The most powerful part was when each of us wrote down a sin on a piece of red ribbon. They took the baskets of ribbons and nailed them to the cross. As I had mentioned previously my lack of fondness for crosses. Seeing this symbology helped me a little bit. If he hadn’t of gone to the cross for us, we’d still be making sacrifices to atone for our sins. As much as I don’t like it, that’s the truth of Christianity. Without his being crucified and rising again, which we celebrate tomorrow, there would be no Christian church. Our hope is wrapped up in this story.

People will be doing Easter egg hunts with their kids tomorrow which heralds back to the pagan roots of Easter. Easter is another holiday candy makers look forward to. It’s kind of what happens with most holidays. A lot of our holidays herald from pagan roots. It’s how they got pagans of the past into Christianity. I look forward to the uplifting message that will come tomorrow of Christs beating death!

Anyhew – when I got home I took Link for a walk. It’s so nice out! It’s 59 degrees today!

Leaf buds are starting to come out
I love Weeping Willow trees. We have like three of them in our neighborhood.

11 February 2023 L’Evate You (trying something new)

Hello to you. How are you today? I hope we’ll. Today started with something new. I decided to try a Steve Harvey sponsored super greens drink product and I got to try my first drink today. It didn’t taste bad at all and I feel pretty good – too soon to tell of course but we shall see. I got 3 months worth so that should give me enough time to see if it’s doing anything. I normally don’t buy stuff like this but something about this resonated with me. I trust Steve Harvey and his testimony really intrigued me to buy his product. The combination of greens is meant to go towards healing at the mitrochondrian cellular level. Here is his testimony from the website for the product:

For years, I had been struggling to keep the energy up needed for my busy schedule. I felt like I was on the sidelines of my life. Not in the game of life. I was struggling with a lack of energy, gut issues, brain fog, and just not feeling right in my own body.

Thanks to my personal health team, they discovered the root cause of my issues started in my cells. Yes, you read that right! My cells. As we age, our cells become damaged, specifically the mitochondria in our cells. These little things are the energy centers or batteries of our cells. Just like when a car’s battery starts to rust, the same thing happens to the mitochondria. This so-called rust damages the mitochondria in our cells and causes loss of energy, gut issues, signs of aging, and so much more. How does this damage happen? Well, to name a few things– the standard American diet, aging, and toxins. 

Now, I’m on a mission: to make better health accessible to all, without a prescription. My personal health team created powerful greens powders with a game-changing complex called M-Charge. This complex contains 4 miracle molecules, as I like to call them, that essentially recharge my mitochondria and get them working again. After experiencing L’Evate You, I finally feel better. My best. And I’m no longer on the sidelines of my life and back in the game. 

No matter where you are in your health journey, L’Evate You is for you. It’s the tool you need in your toolkit to keep your energy up, be your best self, and feel recharged to do what matters most to you.

Welcome to the L’Evate You community! 

– Steve Harvey

My first package of L’Evate You

8 February 2023 First Meeting

Hello to you. How is your day going? I am doing ok so far. Last night we had our first meeting of the Women’s Bible study using the Beauty Beheld devotional. There were nine of us which was a nice amount I think. We read from Genesis the first seven days of creation and how God perceived his creation as good. This correlates to each person on this earth and other creation. Even if we might not perceive something as good of beautiful it is to God depending on what it is. There are some activities that people take part in that are in contradiction to good like child pornography was one example. Even if those who participate in it perceive it to be good it is harmful to the victims of it. We talked about the common phrase beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that can be twisted around sometimes too.

I can tell this will be a pretty challenging read and look at the Bible but I’m curious to continue on. The ladies that were there were all looking for the same things I am and that was namely fellowship with other members of the church. Very nice group of women I’m looking forward to knowing better through the next six weeks.

14 January 2023 Passages

Hello to you. I hope this finds you well. The message from A Woman’s Spirit for today resonated – May be it will resonate with you as well:

We are not unlike a particularly hardy crustacean……with each passage from one stage of human growth to the next, we too, must shed a protective structure. – Gail Sherry

Our passage into a new stage of development was initiated by our desire to stop using chemicals. The values we lived by while using chemicals no longer got us. We need to shed our old skin and grow a new one that reflects our current world view.

We are now, and always will be, in the stage of becoming, of trying to fulfill our changing dreams and aspirations. What we can accomplish at one stage of life is different from what we can handle at another. And yet an overall design is being shaped by all our endeavors. The more willing we are to shed yet another skin, the more centered, stable, and spirit-filled we’ll become.

Do my actions fit my values ? As I outgrow my values, I will release them. I we I’ll relish my growth today and celebrate my new skin.

12 December 2022 Belief

Hello to you . How are you today? My thoughts turn to belief today. I want to believe in the healing power of God over what I’ve got going on physically and psychologically. I want to believe God is healing me and restoring me to my self. Half of the battle in healing is just that I think. People can pray for us but if we don’t believe the change can’t occur.

Thank you for your kind words and prayers of support – I believe they are helping!

8 December 2022 Taking Time

A couple good messages today:

Some times we just need a reminder to slow down
We don’t always know what others are going through

Today I have a telephone consult with a psychiatrist and I don’t know what I’m going to say to her. She wants a goal and lately it’s all I can do to take care of basic things for myself. I don’t think she understands Mal de debarquement syndrome can be so debilitating. I really think that’s what I have going on and there is no cure. Please keep me in your prayers about this. Much love to you!